Abbotsford resident elected to Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society

An Abbotsford resident has been elected to the board of directors of the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society (VCDS).

Pauline Buck was among those elected to a two-year term at the society’s annual general meeting in March.

“I’m glad that I can help provide cancer patients with some peace of mind by solving their transportation needs in this way,” said Buck, who is also a driver for VCDS and serves as the organization’s volunteer director of communications.

In February 2018, VCDS celebrated two years of providing cancer patients with free, reliable transportation to and from cancer-related treatments in most of the Lower Mainland.

The organization was founded by former CKNW reporter George Garrett, Garth Pinton and the late John MacInnes on Feb. 29, 2016 after the Canadian Cancer Society announced they could no longer provide the service.

“Modern medications and therapies are helping ensure a positive prognosis for many cancer patients, but their hope for a cure or period of remission often depends on their ability to actually get to the cancer treatments their oncologists have prescribed,” Buck said.

“For many, family and friends are not able to help.”

Since its inception, the VCDS has grown to a team of 148 dedicated drivers, seven dispatchers and a 10-person board of directors.

In 2017, volunteer drivers made a total of 6,300 return trips, 1,100 of which were from the Langley/Abbotsford area. The total kilometres driven was 363,000, with over 82,000 being from Langley/Abbotsford.